I posted your last letter about technique and put up some illustrations to help.Let me know if I got any details wromg and if you look at your paintings and remember any more details about how you did anything, let me know!I wanna ask you about the Flintstones next. The first season has some of the most beautiful BGs I've ever seen in cartoons.You painted the original title sequence right? Ed's layouts and your colors and techniques are just amazing!Did you spend extra time developing this style?I love the techniques on the caves-some shadows on the rocks done with friskets, some painted on with big brushstrokes. Sponge over more sponge, but such control! Did you use different kinds of sponges? With different sized holes?How do you keep so many details from looking messy?It seems like you designed every stroke and frisket.The green skies are really cool too.John

I'm trying -I really am- to put more importance onto the ones you mention. This has nothing to do with modesty. I do remember them and I remember the fun.

SQUIRTING PAINTS INTO THINGSI remember standing there (never sat) squirting paints out of the bottle -sometimes into a baking dish, sometimes onto a cel. Another "palette" was a cupcake form for 12 cupcakes. Must've had about ten of them. Very good now that I look back at it.

APPLYING PAINT TO A SPONGEYou could dip your brush into the color and then brush a sponge, lightly, or you could dip the sponge itself into it. Of course you couldn't dip a roller into it. The roller had the sheets of celluloid. Some of the most amazing blends came up this way. Would you classify this as "technique"? It wasn't as controlled as it might appear, but there was always that critical eye that said, "No!" or it said "OK." It wasn't up to Bill and Joe or up to the animators and layout guys. It was entirely up to the bg painter.

TAPE THE BRISTOL BOARDS DOWNBy the way, maybe these bloggers today would like to learn how we held down our Bristol paper while we painted. Remember that we also had long repeat pans to do as well as the single frames. I don't know how backgrounds are done these days -I have NO idea- but after our paper was punch-holed for the pegs, we taped down the top and bottom and began, making sure the paint was always of a consistency that would prevent buckling. Acrylics helped us -the thickish consistency was useful.

WATER COLOR PAPER FOR WET EFFECTSThis, too, is why we avoided using water colors and such; i.e., the paper must never get drenched. When we needed to show a wet, watery effect, it was often on water color paper.

SPONGE EFFECTSSponging? Different kinds and sizes of sponges? Yes. Even used crinkled up kitchen paper towel, toothbrushes for splattering too. This is why I say that it was fun. What can you think of next to use?

TAPE PAPER TO WOODEN BOARDSThis taping down was done onto a very flat wooden board, about 4 feet long by about 15 inches high and about 3/4 inch thick. There was more than one of them in case we had a few different bgs to do -for different shows. When only one was being used they were stacked up vertically somewhere nearby.

You can imagine what that board looked like after a few bgs were painted on it. After the overlapping sponging, rolling, brushing, rubbing, etc, it was as if we had frisketed a lot of various colors and intentional designs onto it. I always liked that look. When I decided to get a new board, I didn't want to throw out the used one. I decided to "finish" it off as a painting, adding specific designs and colors that gave it a very "modern" look. I varnished it after and hung it on a wall with a thin wood frame around it. One of them is in Redlands where my late parents lived. My niece will take it and put it into her new home. It's a great memory, practically a museum piece.

HOW TO CUT A FRISKET FROM A CELDo people know how to cut a frisket from a cel? We had the pencil-sized X-acto knives, very sharp pointed. All it took was a slight incision, without cutting all the way through. We traced over a shape that was on a page underneath and incised. All it took was a light pressure with the fingers after and the shape would pop out. Simple and safe.

FLINTSTONES TITLES NO BIG DEAL TO ARTThe opening scenes -what you call the "title sequence"- of the Flintstones were just plain all right to me. I'm not thrilled about them to tell the truth, but they worked. Let's be frank. So-so, not-too-imaginative layouts, with all that rocky look of buildings, etc, no greenery or trees or flowers or water. I can remember other Flintstone openers too, earlier ones besides those (?) and if I remember well enough, they were better.

I thank Ed B for his own input into the flavor and developing of the Flintstones. Unique stuff. Once that prehistory style was established, Ed's style, with the feel and the taste of Bedrock, it was easy to follow suit and to develop it even moreso. After the very first ones showed success and approval, the following ones were easy, so it was endless continuity: ariations on a theme.

But I dislike the idea of teaching this sort of thing or to stress this to all those young bloggers who want to believe that a specific technique was involved, as if Art Lozzi went to a particular university to learn this. I'D WANT TO THEM TO PICK UP A BRUSH, A SPONGE, USE THE FINGERS, FRISKETS, OR WHATEVER OTHER INNOVATIVE "TECHNIQUE" AND TO EXPERIMENT. Only this way will they themselves see results. They can then say, Hey! Or No! Something from inside will guide them. An instructor can only show so much. I'm back to the beginning with "Open your eyes. Make mistakes. Goof up. Some voice will tell you that they are mistakes and you're going to work to correct them. Or to evolve them into non-mistakes". Piano players don't go straight into Chopin...or who(m)ever.

Here are some of the amazing layouts and paintings that Art just takes for granted as "no big deal".These layouts are by Ed Benedict. They are absolutely great. Full of contrasts. Nothing mechanical about them. Completely thought out well organized placement of all the graphic elements.

ORGANIZED ART ON EVERY LEVEL OF CREATIVE THOUGHT

At the bridge we have a largely filled space. Then that is interrupted by a grassy hill. The next area is largely empty sky and road. A modern layout artist would probably feel guilty if he didn't fill every square inch of tis pan with objects and details. Ed, on the other hand makes every important element read clearly by the clever way he arranges the objects and the spaces between them.

Art follows this logic with his organized arrangement of colors, shades and textures.The rocks in the bridge have about the left third (not half!) in shadow and the rest in light. If the shadows were the same size as the light areas and reached the middle of each rock, the rocks would visually be split into 2 separate objects and would not read as solid images.

The textures of the rocks are different than the textures of the plants. The shrubs are painted on with brush, while the rock textures are done with sponge.

Each area of texture on the road is actually designed as shapes and not left to random chance. The shapes are interesting and the spaces between them are too. They are not evenly spaced apart either. This makes the road seem natural or organic, even though it is actually highly thought out by a human.

Each building here is a different, yet related shape. There is a general look to them, while each is specific, following the general idea.

The color of the sky and the road is a similar greenish beige, while the buildings are cleanly separated by having an overall color of off-white.

Now within each of these general colors, there are slight variations to give the picture colorful interest and a natural feel. The shaded streaks on the road are slightly different colors than the base road color, which makes the picture colorful, fun to look at, natural and not monochromatic.

Note the shadow textures on the rocks DO NOT MIRROR THE EXACT SPACE OF THE ROCK and THEY DON'T FILL UP THE WHOLE AREA OF EACH HOUSE.

Each shadow is either sponged on, or painted on with brush-but the shape itself is clear and designed, and loosely follows the general shape of the building it helps define-without being a mathematical mirror image.

Art may think there isn't much to these paintings, but he comes from a very different era than we do. He comes from a day when people were raised on critical thinking and the difference between general concepts and specific instances. Everyone did things with thought 40 years ago. Sometimes artists of that era have trouble analyzing what they did, because it seemed to them to just come natural. Their logical planned approach to their work was instinctual to them.

Today there is no huge wealth of knowledge and experience in the back of anyone's brains that allows artists to act "instinctually". They just do whatever accidentally comes out of their pencils...or worse....Photoshop or Maya.

Hierarchies of texture.

Take a look at the building on the right.The whole building has a base color of off white.On top of that, Art has sponged on a very subtle slightly different hue of off white-you don't notice that so much because...Art then takes a large area on the right of the building and sponges on a darker more obviously contrasted shadow-and in a blueish hue.He also has more shadow texture in a greenish hue, about the same value as the blue. This adds more richness to the painting.On top of the sponged shadows, then Art paints on more shadows, some with brush in a washy look.

All these shadow shapes have individual shapes that form around the shape of the building, helping it look at the same time graphic and rounded and natural.Here all the colors are variations of a similar blue, but the hierarchy of textures makes it still read clearly.

Look at all the amazing subtleties of colors in the shadows and streaks on the building here. Nothing garish, but just as delicious to the eye as rocky road ice cream is to the tongue.

This is cartoon pleasure, what every cartoon should strive for-fun pleasure for your senses.

It takes skill, taste and an appreciation for your audience to achieve this.

Today's cartoons-as well as TV, movies and music all seem to be intended to make you depressed and see the ugly side of life. A little of that would be OK, but everywhere I look or listen, I am bombarded by insults and offences to my senses. This is a fairly modern attitude in culture. It started in the 70s and has grown more grim with each passing decade.My wish is to bring back some joy to cartoons and a reason to be proud to be human. Yes there are ugly things in the world and we shouldn't ignore them, but why do we glorify them in all walks of culture now?

All the real world ugliness of wars and hate and disease and misery could really use some balance of art that shows us of the beauty and joy that humanity is capable of when it is not trying to murder everyone.

These backgrounds are so full of thought and fun and the pleasure of being alive and smarter than the beasts.

A note on style:

Obviously these pictures are very stylish, They are not realistic at all.

BUT, they are not arbitrarily styled. Each element is made of different types of shapes and colors and textures that help define what the objects represent.

Today's flat cartoons treat everything in the cartoon like it is made of the same substance-broken glass. It is a style that is made up of the inability or unwillingness to make creative decisions.

It is "Trend-thinking". "

Note that the treatment of the rug is completely different than the treatment of the rock table.

Note that the rock table stands out against the rock wall. How?Because it has more contrast in the light and shadow than the wall.It is a slightly different color and value.It has a heavy black organic line around it.It has more detail.

It takes planning and the ability to make logical artistic decisions to make a picture read clearly- and then to look nice on top of it it.

Thank you so much for this John! Art definitely comes from a generation of progress and awe-inspiring feats. Some of the things about these backgrounds that stands out from today is the subtleties. So many things today are brazenly ugly. I saw my mother watching some horrific film, Nanny McPhee I think, and I had to quickly look away. The colors were so bright and unpleasant that it gave me a sudden headache. Scary!

I found some ugly links (click on with extreme caution, eye torture follows):

I've been studiously reading each of these posts and tried to take in as much as I can. I'm coming to believe that these art lectures are among the most essential work in animation today. Not to pile on praise or any such nonsense. There's simply an enormous void when it comes to education, and this blog, I think, is filling that void.

It's certainly helped me to appreciate the visual arts more keenly. Maybe you should be making big lectures and shipping them out on DVD.

your observations provide a valued and refreshing start to the day. Having studied design at a 3d-heavy (though I never touched the stuff)school before burying most of the crap I was shovelled, I struggle to completely reject all cg as devil-spawn. However, with the offending frame grabs you often post as examples I also can't reject your superior logic.

If you have a sliver of time spare in your day I would be humbled if you could have a perve at some of my own painted crap. http://exitplanetwhom.blogspot.com/

I'm starting from scratch with real-world paint after years of raping my illustrations with photoshop. They're admittedly still pretty garish and slapped-up.

It just keeps getting better! Great insights and beautiful examples filled with subtlety. Your great questions and Art's great responses also helped answer some questions I've long had about sponging technique. Invaluable stuff.

damn! best post ever? well i think i'd vote for this one, anyway. Thanks John and Art! you guys are awesome!p.s. i just read eddie's response and i said practically the same thing. could i have subconsciously read it in my peripheral vision?.. well anyways i second that motion!

Wow -- this is invaluable information and advice. Many thanks to both John and Art.

Is it just me, or does the chimney next to the garage look kind of washed out or indistinct? I'm not sure if it's the construction around the base, or if it could use a little more shadow closer to the garage to separate the structures or what. I'm not trying to nit-pick, just to understand some of the principles herein divulged through some critical analysis.

This blog is the best free online teaching post in animation, what can anyone else add.On a sad note, another animator bit the dust,http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6243717.stmIwao Takamoto, the US animator who created cartoon dogs Scooby-Doo and Muttley, has died aged 81.

He was responsible for characters from The Flintstones and The Jetsons when he worked for the Hanna-Barbera studio.

John's analysis on how old cartoons represented more optimism and vice-versa is interesting. It's like how a present-day poet would try to remove himself from Modern verses of the 20th Century, and try to recapture the Romantic verses of the 19th Century.

I finally got around to experimenting more with colored pencils, pastels, and even markers and crayon after putting it off for so long. I'll try posting them someday to see where they measure up.

That Scooby image is great. The background looks like candy corn puke, the characters look neither like they were designed to go with it or each other, and they all appear frozen in non-awareness of where they are. It's as if the only thing they all recognize is that they will never ever be drawn in another pose.

It will be so entertaining when some kid grows up to develop a show that parodies this kind of thing. It will be really amusing. It really will. No, really.

>> All the real world ugliness of wars and hate and disease and misery could really use some balance of art that shows us of the beauty and joy that humanity is capable of when it is not trying to murder everyone. <<

Another thing John, that you have to appreciate about the Flintstones (and in the Jetsons as well) is the innovation with how the shows work imaginatively.Everything in the flinstones was all stone-age. In the backgrounds, the overpass and the roads are made of rocks and other things.That was always one of my favorite things about watching these shows was how these characters lived lives alot like we do without using the same things we do.

I've wondered for years about those rock textures. Used to think it was some kind of chalk. But now thanks to you John, and Art... you were aptly named, for this is indeed a Fine Art - creating such cartoon beauty with common tools. Much more interesting than a stuffy art gallery.

Would love to see a pic of that framed wooden board Art mentioned.

As far as the comment by "I don't really care": Wasn't there such a parody on "The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse"? I vaguely recall an episode where they poked fun at badly drawn cartoons of the time. Anyone else remember?

Lastly, on a semi-related note: heres a link to a downloadable Huckleberry Hound album from the early 60s:

Erm...I guess you are not going to like this little criticism here since it's not really the point of the post, but anyway, I think your own cartoons are more and more about the ugliness of life. Sure, they have nice art but they are more gross, pessimistic and characters act more rude overall. I actually haven't watched that intro for Troop Beverly Hills before you told us that you've found it in youtube, but I really liked that. There was a sexy girl, but the gags were innocent, yet funny, and the drawings were cute. There are few "cute" cartoons that don't follow the over-sentimental Disney formulas out there. I'd appreciate if you have the chance to do something like that, cause I really miss that type of thing. Something that is aimed for everybody, and a child could watch, but it's not stupid or too sentimental or the result of a comittee.

just looking again at this i noticed something else! there are definite color themes involved here too. outside is always a warmer pallet and inside cooler. reds vs blues. i never really thought about it before but it really establishes a mood for the flintstones. generally when fred is outside he's at work, driving or under a little more tension, generally active; and inside he's in his safe zone with wilma, things tend to be a bit more low key [for the most part] and comfortable.

pretty great! i've seen modern cartoons from time to time wash everything the same color to establish "mood" but there's no subtlety or thought behind it and generally it establishes more a feeling of "oh now everything's purple" as opposed to simply identifying with the character's situation subconsciously. i think i'm going to buy the first season of flintstones dvd today...

John, I'm making a tribute to Joe Barbera for art class. I'm gonna use every single one of Art's techniques with Ed's original designs. Sort of like a golden book where you can see the brush strokes and sponges. I want to show caricatures of Joe, Bill, and every single one of their good characters. (Chronologically, from Tom & Jerry to Wally Gator, so 1940-1962)

I'm reading and re-reading every single one of your composition manual posts. The crowd scene post is the most useful, but it's gonna be hard to create a scene with about 46 characters.

Do you have any tips on compostion for MASSIVE crowd scene where each character reads clearly yet, ther is still a hierchy of importance and contrasts? The one I'm thinking will be hard is composing 46 poses together. Or can you just tell me the name of a principle that you haven't gotten to yet that you think could help me with this? I could then google it alongside your name and I'll find an old interview or something where you talk about it. I mean, in addition to:

FramingClear StagingPositive/NegativeUsing crowds as one massHierarchy of detailsIntersectionAvoiding tangents

Right now I just want this to be a good drawing before I start painting.

If you could just give me some quick tips, I'd be forever grateful. I really want this thing to be good!

Roberto, old Film Noir movies are about the ugly side of life, but they are done in such a stylish artistic and beautiful way that they raise humanity to a lofty level by showing what is possible by clever and tasteful humans. So even though describe some ugly parts of human nature, they offer the opposite at the same time.

I try to balance pessimism, optimism, cuteness and scary parts of human nature at the time.

Modern movies are merely ugly. They are about ugly things, they show ugly things on screen in an ugly way.

Stimpy is cute and fun, while Ren is the ugliest parts of human nature, but even he is sort of cute in his vileness.

George Liquor is a combination of good and bad traits and I try to make him cute too.

Good post John. I havent been on here in a while but today I'm glad I did! I remembered a post you put about about a month ago about background paints by Art Lozzi. Alot of backgrounds these days are VERY boring and depressing. It seems to be directors dont want cartoons anymore, they want photo-realistic peices, so I tell them to not hire an artist and just go take a photograph of it. I was never really a big Flintstones fan but looking back on it, Ed B, Art & others did a great job of layouts, character designs and animation. I love these post John, they encourage me. Keep these coming.

I recognize this Fred's snobbish face (while he accompained the chat between Wilma and Betty)! This is a scene from the first Flintstones episode, titled The Pool, originally aired in 1960. This was what I've had to comment here.

I couldn't agree more with you about film noir, John. I haven't watched too much of it, but it's one of my fave movie genres. Double Indemnity might be one of my fave movies of all time. I also like Fritz Lang's Woman In The Window and Scarlett Street. I don't know if this counts as film noir, fantastic or mixture of both but Night Of The Hunter is fantastic too. Any particular movie I should check? Which one is the best Robert Ryan movie in your opinion so I would try to see it?

I do like some new cinema too. I don't think everything is lost. I quite like Coen Brothers, I think their films are aesthetic. Well, actually their last two movies were pretty crappy, but they had a good track record before those.

Anyway, about your cartoons. Certainly you have a balance there, but I can see it more with George Liquor, he's kind of cute and nice even though he can be very furious sometimes. I think most of APC was a little obscure, even the more brighter ones like Altruists, Stimpy was more like a woman instead of a child and that aspect of ingenuity was less present. However it seemed well balanced in the Life Sucks animatic you showed.

I don't mean I don't like dark. I loved Ren Seeks Help. But sometimes I like something more innocent and less dark, especially in a cartoon.

I had another thought, something I was struggling to verbalise about the tendency people seem to have to generate gratuitous ugliness/nastiness in the name of 'creativity'.

The vision that's popping into my head is those ubiquitous sub-Tim Burton goth doll type paintings. The lower end of the lowbrow scene.

That sensibility tends to come out of quite a comfortable middle-class place. And it's adolescent, too (the made-up bit of adolescence where you're obliged to be whiny for no particular reason). I reckon people who've had actual suffering or sorrow in their lives are less likes to indulge in deliberate ugliness. They're more likely to try and put some hope and joy into the world, out of compassion for other people who might be suffering.

There's something about now that seems to allow people to remain in a state of suspended adolescence, and not in the good way. A shocking shortage of adults.

I love the word 'joy', because it means more than just 'pleasure' or distraction from nasty things. The desire to make something joyful is the desire to celebrate being alive in the present moment, including all its complexity and paradox.

(This is why I always thought Stimpy was an excellent role model, with one of the world's most meaningful catchphrases.)

And as the discussion about film noir was touching on, it's about seeing or injecting beauty into even the darker/more frightening aspects of life.

I'd like to say thanks John for saving real animation and bringing back TRUE cartoons! This site is incredible,thanks for investing the time it takes to post all this great art along with theory and technique explaination and interviews with the greats,hopefully you will inspire a return to real animation. When I first came across Ren & Stimpy in the early 90's I was awestruck!,the characters were amazing,I loved the highly stylized abstract look of them,the dynamic acting and facial expressions,the incredibly colorful and textured backgrounds,you used colors seldom seen that gave the cartoon the look and feel of a cartoon made in the 50's!,and your use of Capitols Hi-Q series was inspired,I had remembered hearing that music in the original Gumbys (before they were butchered in the 1980's and redubbed with disgusting synthetic music to fit in with the horrible new ones made.(why dont they ever leave the originals be?) (OH YEAH,because today Hollywood is creativley bankrupt and looks for ideas that have already been done to turn a quick buck with.) I couldnt agree with your statement about todays society more.the movies and music today are for the most part insulting on every level,very hostile and depressing,and seldom offer any real altrusim or inner glimpse of humanity,let alone true artistic statement. what's worse is a whole generation has been brought up on this crap and doesnt know any better.I cant understand the "japanimation anime" fad that currently permeates society. In the era those Flintstones backgrounds were drawn we still had an optimistic outlook on the future,today we are focused on the depressing and negative. In my opinion all the best designs were made in the 50's and 60's,everything was colorful and stylish,you very rarely see that level of imagination and artistic ability employed in animation,product design or anything anymore.back then it permeated all aspects of life,aplliances,tv,the cars we drove.today its hard to get excited about anything thats new.

Hey Mr. K, have always been a big fan. I have been studying on your curriculum here and would really like to work for you some day. If you could give me some pointers or critique my paintings just click on my name, its my only post. Thanks